Helen:
Every citizen should pay his taxes. Every citizen should pay her taxes. Every citizen should pay his or her taxes.
For many years (probably several centuries) it has been accepted practice to include his and her in the construction of his in the first sentence above. Now you are saying that is a "lie" or "a false statement purposely put forward as the truth: falsehood."
If I [bold]define[/bold] "he" as including "he and she" when the context requires it and "his" as "including his and her(s): when the context requires it, then it is not a lie to infer that he "is" neutral when we define it to be neutral.
Personally i don't care a fig whether we use she and her(s) but I will not use the abomination: "It is the duty of every citizen to pay his or her taxes."
Why do you call it a lie?
TEd, who is not trying to be argumentative, but simply trying to understand
